This invention relates to substituted quinoxaline-1,4-dioxides. In a particular aspect this invention relates to a method of promoting the growth of animals.
In the business of raising animals for food, it is essential to feed the animals those rations and adjuncts thereto, such as growth promoter stimulants, that provide a rapid weight gain and a high conversion of feed to animal weight. Such compounds cause the animal to gain weight faster during the growth period, thus shortening the time required to bring the animal to market weight. A growth stimulant is a compound which elicits a response of an animal toward its optimum genetic potential from a depression in growth rate and feed efficiency caused by intestinal bacterial flora, stress and subclinical diseases. Some compounds also act to improve feed efficiency, i.e. they permit the animal to gain more weight per unit weight of food than would occur without the compound. Such compounds are highly advantageous in raising animals for food. Antibiotics such as penicillin, bacitracin and tetracyclines have been widely used for this purpose. Antibiotics have several disadvantages, however. There is the possibility that resistant strains of pathogenic organisms may develop. Also, these antibiotics are expensive to use. Accordingly, there is a need for other agents to stimulate the growth of animals.